Sitting in church yesterday; the oldest coming off an overnight, some lack of sleep throughout winter break, and general 'being 9 and knowing everything and it is Sunday in church what can Dad do to me' fun. She brought cookies for the siblings to eat in church, which disintegrate upon touch and crumble into frostingy chunks that grind into clothes and pews and carpet with ease. I am not opposed to food in church; rather, I think it is a good thing. Coffee, donuts, sure! Cheerios for the babies? Bring it. But, these were exceptional in their potential to make a mess. So, I ask her to not give the cookies to the younger two. The immediate reponse is, in hushed but no less snotty terms, to push back on everything I said. I tried to remain calm, to not whisper yell at her; she kept pushing. While the kids did not eat the cookies, the eldest offspring and I entered the rest of Sunday on not so great terms. I did pray in church, though, silently for her and her heart, that the Spirit would bring to her a desire to be humble and obedient and desiring to be a God-pleasing child. It continued after lunch, and led to some 'quality time' in her room while the youngest napped and I went outside to unwind a bit. The day got better; we did speak about the attitude and why it is not ok to act or speak that way to the parental figures. This has been a recurring conversation of late, I must say. We set expectations for our kids; we try not to be too demanding or controlling (some of you are laughing and thinking 'whatever, psycho! I see you with your kids...'), but we do feel it necessary to have guidelines and to expect them to be kind, respectful, and honoring to authority/elders/parents/family. I guess I believe that how you treat others speaks volumes about what you believe, Who you believe in, and what kind of person you desire to be. They are young, they don't get it, but it has to start even at an early age to sink in. This is all on my mind as I come in this morning; grab the Prayerconnect cards on my desk that give scripture and a short prayer for parents to use in praying daily for their kids. Here is the one on top of the deck for today:

"O Lord, I pray that my children would not be stubborn or rebellious but that their hearts would be loyal to you and their spirits faithful to you."

Well said. I want a lot of things for my kids, that is certain. But most of all, I desire they be loyal and loving and wanting Jesus -- to follow and love and seek and serve Him first. The struggle is intense, to be sure. We may not see fruit, we may be overwhelmed at the goodness we see. Bottom line, though, my job is to model and encourage and pray like crazy prayers like this that will intercede for them and be paving the way for these things to happen.